What I'm listening for in the third debate? Real policy solutions to systemic injustice.

What I'm listening for in the third debate? Real policy solutions to systemic injustice.

October 18, 2016
Written by Jason Carson Wilson

God is still speaking and revealing new and different insights in the world.

So far the Presidential candidates have done a lot of speaking themselves. They’ve debated twice and given countless speeches. What’s been lost amidst the dramatic election rhetoric are the concrete policy steps they will take to change our nation. Knowing those policies more fully will allow OUR FAITH to direct OUR VOTE.

The third debate takes place this Wednesday at 9 PM ET in Las Vegas. My hope for the final debate? I want to hear more about their presidential plans.

What the debates so far did accomplish: Public dialogue on sexual assault.

Instead of plans and policies, much of the previous debate focused on an elephant in the room--sexual assault and sexual misconduct. This spurred a national conversation on misogyny, rape culture and the sexism that is rampant in our nation.

It has forced us to wrestle with how women are treated in our country. And the dialog that followed has been illuminating. While some use paternalistic language as a frame for encouraging more respect, others have stated it more simply--women, including cisgender and transgender women, deserve basic human decency. After all, the still speaking God loves everyone equally.

They deserve control of who occupies their space and has access to their bodies. Consent is key. That’s the bottom line.

I was proud to see our denomination’s sexuality education curriculum, Our Whole Lives, lifted up as a "a model for positive, comprehensive sex education" in the the New York Times in discussions about how we move forward. Clearly we have much more work to do.

What we still need to hear: Real policy solutions to systemic injustice.

We deserve presidential candidates, who respect us enough to share a vision for our country that includes clear and detailed policies solutions. Clinton and Trump have one more chance to make their cases to the American people. It’s time for us to learn more fully about their plans and ideas. It’s time for us to hold those plans and ideas up for careful scrutiny and see how they square with our vision for God’s Kin-dom.

May God loose their lips, so the candidates may give us the information we need to make one of the most important decisions--choosing our next leader. Their leadership would impact everything -- criminal justice, LGBTQIA rights, reproductive justice, international peace treaties, immigration and so much more.